Chunky Black Bean and Tomato Dip

Carla at The Year of the Vegan has starting testing for a new book. Today I made the Chunky Black Bean and Tomato Dip (though I used it as a spread). I almost never put fresh tomatoes in anything else but salads. So having them in this dip was an enjoyable change. The texture was good and I think I might try this in a wrap.

I tried our local stores but couldn't find any hot sauce any and it was needed for the recipe. So I looked up some recipes and made a 1/4 tsp version of my own. Some finely chopped chili from the freezer, a dash of salt and sugar and then some vinegar and water. I didn't notice it in the dip but I've never tried it so I don't know what it adds to the recipe. But maybe I'll put more chili next time.

Vegan Bake Sale Cookbook

Look what came in the mail last week! Along with others who tested the recipes for this book I received a complementary copy from Carla of her Vegan Bake Sale Cookbook. It was definately strange seeing the recipes in bookform rather than on the blog! Not only were there a lot of recipes but tips on holding a bake sale, explanations on ingredients and using substitutions but plenty more useful information. I'd recommend that you get a hold of a copy and see what you think yourself!

Nuts

I like eating nuts. Sometimes when I can't be bothered to make something proper to eat, I'll use nuts as my protein, eating them straight from the bag. I haven't been recipe testing for a while because I'm usually just cooking for myself and can't be bothered. Carla had a Salty Smoeky Roasted Nuts Recipe this month that I thought that I would try because I like smoked nuts. She also put the recipe on her blog. Don't forget to check on them so that they don't burn!

Slow Work

I don't know any bloggers. Well I did know one, but she doesn't blog anymore. So I've never asked anyone how they check on the blogs that they read. I've been using Bloglines but it is shutting down next month. I had to find a new place to put all of the blogs I want to keep up on. At the moment I'm using Google Reader because I haven't looked into any others yet. It's possible to move them all at once but with over 330 blogs on Bloglines (and over 9000 unread posts) I want to go through them all. I think it would be better to only move the ones that I'm sure that include my interests at the moment. OK, and a lot of other ones too!

I had been thinking of going through them for awhile (after I noticed that there were over 9000 unread posts) and now I have to do it. It was interesting to find that some of the blogs no longer existed even though I could read the posts that Bloglines hadn't marked as read. Some had changed their site address and I didn't know. I still have 88 blogs to look through. I was hoping to cut the total down to 100 blogs but I've already moved 140!


When my son visited last time I was able to make GrannyG's Caramel Slice with the condensed milk that GrannyG sent me. It was a real treat. I still have another tin, so I have to decide whether or not to make these again or try something different.


I haven't been making many of Carla's test recipes lately. During the summer it was too hot and now, living on my own, I'm too lazy. I did make her Savory Sunflower Brittle recently because it sounded so unusual and I plan to make it again soon.


I've done a bit of sewing. Some people on Ravelry have asked for project bags though they probably would want something more modern. I had this piece of material that I was pretty sure I'd never use. It wasn't a big piece and the squares were too large for any quilting I might want to do. I've sent three off and still should get the last one sent.

Where's the Sun/Summer?

It's the middle of June already and it still doesn't feel like summer. Of course we're not wearing our winter clothes but it isn't all that warm.

Carla has sent her cookbook Quick and Easy Vegan Bake Sale (Amazon link to pre-order) off to the publisher and that's the end of the testing for that book. The last recipe I tested was this Spicy Corn Biscotti which was really good. Despite having to have the time to bake biscotti twice and have it cool in between, I like that it can be munched on whenever.


Carla has started coming up with recipes for a new cook book. I've only made one recipe so far. This Lentil "Spag Bol" Sauce was really good. I'm trying to use things up from the freezer to make room for strawberries when they come. I'd also like to make up a batch of this sauce and freeze it in individual portions now that I'm an empty-nester and find making food just for myself a bit of a nuisance!


I started the second ball of wool for my Vortex shawl. Not wanting to bother with putting the live stitches on a piece of string, I just measured half of it. It's now about 48 cm across. I don't have this size circular needles (and I don't know if they sell them long enough) so I'm going to try to use dpns. At the moment I'm using 7 needles. Hopefully I can find 1-3 more around the apartment. I don't know if they were 4 or 5 needle packs or if I've picked up some somewhere. I'm at 336 stitches.


Only working on one project was getting a bit boring so I restarted a wool hat for my son. I wanted to do a top-down hat so I wouldn't have to keep undoing it like the last one when it would be too long, too short, too long again! The first one I tried seemed to leave gaps between the stitches and that wouldn't be warm enough here. So I'm trying a different pattern. It looks good but making increases every row is taking forever. It would be so much faster to do decreases! II need to take my glasses off to do such close work with this colour. Good thing I like listening to podcasts because I wouldn't be able to watch anything without my glasses.

I just went to look for the name of the pattern and I can't find the pattern! and I didn't bookmark it in anyway! or write down the name of the pattern! or write down the pattern past row 9, where I am up to! Guess what I'm going to be doing now. Hope I've just missed it (twice) and it hasn't been taken down. Sigh.

Happy Mother's Day!

21 Mother's Days ago I got my first Mother's Day gift. It was a food processor and it is still working! Some of the parts are broken but I've learned to live without them. Today my son made griddle scones for breakfast. It's so nice when I don't have to cook. My son made this card and got me this box of chocolates that I was going to buy myself. Didn't he make a great card?

We prefer our cakes cold and 'aged' so we made this Zebra Cake that I tested for Carla's cookbook yesterday. It's fun making Zebra Cakes and I recommend trying it. It was a good choice for my Mother's Day Cake. Well chocolate anything is good for my Mother's Day!

This and That

Last month I finally finished the Aspen wrap (Ravelry link) that I started in January of 2008. Between the time I started it and marked it as finished on Ravelry the name changed! After not working on it for about a year I wrote out each of the 16 rows of the pattern repeat on separate cards and used a carabiner (why can I never remember what these are called) to hold them together. It was easy to flip each card when I finished the row and I didn't loose my place.

Last year I bought some baby wool and after looking at a lot of patterns, I've decided to knit a Vortex Shawl (Ravelry link). After the first 13 rows there is only a 2 row repeat so I hope I'll have no trouble remembering it!


It was my son's birthday at the beginning of the month and this is the card I made for him. I saw it somewhere and made my own. We are hoping to invite his grandparents for a birthday meal next week. So I've been trying to tidy the living room and do some of my decluttering goal at the same time. I'm aiming for 7 items from around our home a week.

I'm still doing test baking for Carla's cookbook. This Clafouti Tart is the latest. I used black currants instead of the raspberries because I didn't have any and I'm trying to use up the food from my freezer. I'm thinking of making it again when my son's grandparents come because my son and I both really liked it and also I think that the grandparents will be interested in tasting tofu and a vegan dessert. Though I'm tempted to let them eat it first before telling them what is in it.

Don't Laugh!

I finally made it. I visited over 1000 blogs to see what they were like. And of course to see what they were giving away for One World One Heart (OWOH) event. Some I've marked to go back to, but with 270 blogs on my bloglines list, I didn't want to add too many more! I hadn't heard of this event before this year and I was glad to find out about it just before it started and not soon after it ended.

I really found the mixed media pieces interesting. I need to start looking for tutorials as I'm not creative. I'm good at following directions but not with coming up with my own.

My friend is turning 50 next week so I thought I'd make her a card. On my OWOH tour I came across a style called zettiology. I don't have many paints or supplies that I could use, so I just used what we have. I went around looking at people's art and took what I thought I could manage on the card. I started putting them on the paint program and came up with this. Now if you continue on reading I don't want to hear any laughing!

This is what I came up with from going around looking at people's artwork. The first version also had the words 'tick tock' and a larger clock but I thought that she might not find that as funny as me!

I had trouble finding pictures and colours in magazines that I wanted to use, so I just took what I found. All of our felt markers are old so I didn't think that they would last to do the black around the edges, so I used crayon. It isn't as dark as I liked but better than nothing. I painted the background with coffee and sprinkled some instant coffee granules on it. If I'd had more experience I would have realized that I should have planned where to put the granules first!

This is what I wrote inside.

I baked some cookies for the recipe testing.

A Little Bit More Sewing

I finally got the tote done that I won from Green Bag Lady. The prize was a finished tote and pieces to make a tote to give away. I wanted to give the second tote to my son to add to his university chest (ha ha, like a hope chest) but I decided to take the striped handles off of mine to put on his and put the pink ones on mine. I French seamed the seams and I think it turned out well.

I bought a bundle of material from a charity store and I want to start making a (lap) quilt. I don't have enough material to make anything yet but it's a start. The bright material at the bottom of the pile won't be part of the quilt but it was included in the pile. I decided to look through my quilting magazines (which are from 1985 to 1989) and all of the patterns I've cut out, photocopied or drawn out but I didn't find anything that I felt was what I wanted. I haven't looked at the magazines in years but it was funny how familiar the pictures all looked. I guess I've looked at them too often.

I found a fabric giveaway at Kvnita Quilts. The colours are really pretty! She will draw a winner on Feb. 15, 2010.

I did a bit of recipe testing again. This time it was flavoured scones. Both my son's and my reactions were 'yum'. I look forward to Mondays when Carla posts new recipes for us to try.

My friend's 50th birthday is coming up and I'd like to make her a card. I'm hoping that my son will be willing to make her a pair of earrings. (And that he'll help me make the card too.) She doesn't want to celebrate but I'd like to give her a little something. I need to get started so I can have them done before I see her next week.

Crackers and Cheese

I've been wanting to try this Cashew Chive Cheese Spread for a while now. I thought that since I had made the crackers for Carla's at The Year of the Vegan cookbook testing, it would be a good time to make the cheese too. The crackers turned out well and I don't think that they needed the agave that they called for that I left out because I didn't have any. Oh course I don't know what they would taste like with it though! I don't use chives so I tried dill. I don't mind putting dill where ever I can. I need to use a thicker yoghurt if I make the cheese again. It was more of a dip. Might try it without the nutritional yeast too as my son doesn't really like it. Tasted good on the crackers which was most important.

ETA: The cheese firmed up in the fridge but it was still quite soft.

Here I go!

So it didn't take me long to stop blogging again. I found a blogging giveaway event called One World One Heart and started to go to different blogs to see what they were like and what they were giving away. So nice. They seem to put so much work into their crafts and their blogs which really makes me envious! But I need to accept what kind of blogger/blog writer I am and just do my blog my way.

I've been doing some testing for Carla at The Year of the Vegan for a cookbook she is doing. For breakfast I made her scones. I actually followed the directions and rolled them out to about 2½ cm instead flatter, so they rose quite nicely We enjoyed them with marmalade.